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Which Louisiana football assistants, staffers are headed to Florida with Billy Napier

After working his final game as Louisiana Ragin’ Cajun football coach, Billy Napier would not say which assistant coaches and staff members he will take with him to Florida.

But UL confirmed Monday that defensive coordinator/outside linebackers coach Patrick Toney, running backs coach Jabbar Juluke and strength and conditioning coach Mark Hocke all have left the program to join Napier in Gainesville.

Toney was hired as co-defensive coordinator/safeties coach, Juluke is associate head coach/running backs coach and Hocke is associate head coach/director of football strength and conditioning.

Offensive analyst Ryan O'Hara, who has worked closely with Cajun quarterbacks, also has left for the same post at Florida. Two recruiting staffers, director of recruiting and football logistics Kyle Kazakevicius and director of player personnel Jacob LaFrance, have left UL for Florida too.

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“But just to kind of make sure we’re all the same page here: We’re gonna take a small group of people with us to work through signing day,” Napier said after UL beat Appalachian State 24-16 on Saturday in the Sun Belt Conference championship game.

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The NCAA’s three-day early signing period opens Dec. 15.

UL athletics director Bryan Maggard had said Sunday that Hocke and Toney, who was promoted from safeties coach to defensive coordinator in 2020, both were leaving UL.

Napier, who’s signed a reported seven-year, $51.8 million deal, was named Florida’s coach on Nov. 28 but stayed to coach the Sun Belt title game.

He was introduced Sunday afternoon in Gainesville.

UL named tight ends coach/co-defensive coordinator Michael Desormeaux as its new coach Sunday.

Napier, who coached UL to 12 straight wins after a season-opening loss to Texas, said there’s “basically a little bit of a gentleman’s agreement here that it’s important to our (Cajuns) team, and our players, and our administration to get through signing day … (and) the bowl game.”

Billy Napier gets off the bus for his final game as coach of the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns. UL beat App State 24-16 Saturday in the Sun Belt Conference championship game at Cajun Field.
Billy Napier gets off the bus for his final game as coach of the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns. UL beat App State 24-16 Saturday in the Sun Belt Conference championship game at Cajun Field.

UL will play Marshall (7-5) on Dec. 18 (8:15 p.m., ESPN) at the New Orleans Bowl.

“This group wants to win 13 in a row,” Napier said, “so to get up and run out of here with everybody would not be the right thing to do.

“So we’re going to take a very small group. The rest of the staff will coach (UL) the rest of the way. And then, after signing day’s over, we’ll start working on, really, assembling the rest of the organization. That’s the approach we’ll take.”

UL has lost two commits since Napier decided to take the Florida job, Texas high school tight end Hayden Hansen and Texas high school edge rusher/tight end Camron Cooper.

As of Monday morning, the Cajuns had nine commits and much uncertainty regarding its assistant coaches.

Toney, who worked previously at UTSA, Sam Houston State and Southeastern Louisiana, also received an offer earlier this season to be Texas Tech’s defensive coordinator. Juluke also is a former running backs coach at LSU, Texas Tech and Louisiana Tech. Hocke was strength coach at Texas A&M and Georgia, and started as an Alabama staff member.

“We know it’s going to be important for any coach here, right, to make sure they hire a good defensive coordinator, and possibly some other coaches,” Maggard said Sunday. “We don’t know what now who that might be. But it’s also going to be important we hire a very, very good strength coach – someone who will lead that weight room like it’s been led the last several years.”

Defensive line coach Rory Segrest, who previously coached defensive lines at Arkansas and with the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles, is a candidate to join Napier at Florida. Co-offensive coordinator/receivers coach Tim Leger is another, if he does not stick with Desormeaux.

Segrest has been at UL all four years under Napier, as were Toney, Desormeaux, Leger and Juluke.

Another potential Napier hire for Florida is former Georgia offensive line coach Rob Sale, who coached Arizona State’s offensive line when Napier was offensive coordinator there and who coached UL’s offensive line for three seasons before leaving this year to coach the New York Giants offense line.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Cajuns Patrick Toney Jabbar Juluke join coach Billy Napier at Florida